Papers by Verónica E Valdez
American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Mar 1, 2013
Background: There is a paucity of research investigating the effects of innovative physical activ... more Background: There is a paucity of research investigating the effects of innovative physical activity programs on physical health and academic performance in the Latino population. Purpose: To examine the impact of Dance Dance Revolution [DDR]-based exercise on Latino children's physical fıtness and academic achievement. Design: A repeated-measures crossover design was used. In Year 1, Grade-4 students were assigned to the intervention group and offered 30 minutes of exercise (DDR, aerobic dance) three times per week. Grade-3 and Grade-5 students made up the comparison group and were offered no structured exercise at school. In Year 2, the Grade-4 students were again assigned to the intervention, whereas Grade-5 and Grade-6 students were in the comparison group. Setting/participants: Assessments were conducted with 208 Latino school children. Main outcome measures: The baseline measures included time to complete a 1-mile run, BMI, and reading and math scores. Data were collected again 9 months later. Overall, data were collected in 2009-2011 and analyzed in 2012. Results: Data yielded signifıcant differences between the intervention and comparison groups in differences in 1-mile run and math scores in Year 1 and Year 2. The results also revealed net differences in the intervention versus comparison group scores on the 1-mile run for Grade 3 (pϽ0.01). Additionally, children's yearly pre-test and post-test BMI group changes differed (2 (2) ϭ6.6, pϽ0.05) only for the fırst year of intervention. Conclusions: The DDR-based exercise intervention improved children's cardiorespiratory endurance and math scores over time. Professionals should consider integrating exergaming at schools to achieve the goals of promoting a physically active lifestyle and enhancing academic success among Latino children.
Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, May 1, 2011
The purpose of this study was to determine the role of renovated (Learning Landscapes, LL) vs. no... more The purpose of this study was to determine the role of renovated (Learning Landscapes, LL) vs. non-renovated playgrounds on levels of recess PA in elementary school children. The data collected serve as baseline for the Intervention of PhysicaL Activity in Youth (IPLAY) Study. METHODS: We measured height, weight and 5-6 days of free-living PA via wrist-mounted Actical accelerometers in 271 elementary school children. These students were enrolled in schools serving low socioeconomic status families (77% free and reduced lunch) in metropolitan Denver, CO. Overweight status was defined as > 85 th percentile BMI-forage. We summed total accelerometry counts during recess and divided by the total number of recess minutes to quantify the average activity counts per minute of recess. Univariate ANOVA was conducted to determine between-subject effects of weight status, presence of LL and sex on average recess PA. RESULTS: A significant interaction was observed between LL and sex (p=.003), demonstrating that boys with LL are markedly more active than girls with LL compared to their non-LL counterparts. An additional interaction was observed between LL and weight status (p=.019), indicating that normal weight children with LL had even greater levels of PA than overweight children with LL. CONCLUSIONS: These data demonstrate that in LL schools, normal weight girls and all boys have greater levels of recess PA. However, overweight girls are not affected by LL, signifying the need for additional approaches to encourage them to be more active. RESULTS: Students accumulated 69.96±29.7 min of MVPA on the Take 10!® activity day, 68.63±26.4 min on the days they walked or ran for 20 minutes outdoors which were both significantly greater than the control day (49.5±32.17 min; p<0.05). However, teachers felt the integrated activity took less time because students did not have to line up, put on coats, or resettle after coming indoors. CONCLUSION: Students accumulated 28% more MVPA through Take 10!® activities or walking/running outdoors, which met the policy mandate of an additional 20 minutes of MVPA outside of recess and PE. Teachers were able to integrate the activities into curricular lessons and transition times between
ABSTRACT Not available Curriculum and Instruction
Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, Jul 3, 2023
Educational Policy, Jul 26, 2016
We argue the emergence of a shift in U.S. language education policy discourses from an equity/her... more We argue the emergence of a shift in U.S. language education policy discourses from an equity/heritage (EH) framework focused on equity for English learners and non-English heritage languages, toward a global human capital (GHC) framework linked to neoliberal considerations of the language skills of individuals and nations. This discursive shift represents a change in the audience to which language education programs are primarily marketed. Drawing on a critical approach to content analysis to test for evidence of this discursive shift in Utah, we analyzed 164 articles from 5 Utah newspapers from 2005 to 2011 that assigned value statements to dual language and bilingual education. EH values declined or changed little over time whereas GHC values increased. Policy implications are discussed.
Routledge eBooks, Oct 25, 2022
As we embrace the increasing numbers of young Mexican immigrant children and their families prese... more As we embrace the increasing numbers of young Mexican immigrant children and their families present in our schools, it is important for educators to better understand the many family educational practices present in these households. This article examines the strategies and resources utilized by two Mexican-born and two U.S.-born Mexican immigrant families in teaching and guiding the bilingual educacion of their children—an education that encompasses academic teaching but also provides teachings that shape children’s views toward the English and Spanish languages and their cultural identities as Latinas/os in the U.S. Drawing on sociocultural theory, three primary types of teaching practices used by these families to impart bilingual educacion in the home are illustrated while highlighting the values and social capital they communicate: 1) school-prescribed teaching practices; 2) embodied teaching practices; and 3) culturally-prescribed teaching practices. The author concludes with ...
International Journal of Multicultural Education, 2021
James Banks’s framework for determining the levels of integration of multicultural content in tea... more James Banks’s framework for determining the levels of integration of multicultural content in teachers’ pedagogy has long been a tool used by researchers worldwide. This article introduces the Holistic Analysis of Multicultural Teaching Framework that rethinks Banks’s framework to allow research analysis to capture the hybrid and fluid aspects of teachers’ multicultural practices as well as the pauses in their practices over time. Data from a study on U.S. dual language teachers’ classroom implementation of multicultural practices serves to illustrate the utility of the Holistic Analysis framework in analyzing teachers’ multicultural practices. Implications for teacher educators and researchers are discussed.
International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 2021
Bilingual education—chiefly the subcategory of dual language bilingual education—has been undergo... more Bilingual education—chiefly the subcategory of dual language bilingual education—has been undergoing a pattern where the interests of language-minoritized communities have in several contexts been ...
The Urban Review, 2016
Utah's dual language education (DL) initiative, officially introduced in 2007 and backed by uniqu... more Utah's dual language education (DL) initiative, officially introduced in 2007 and backed by unique state-level planning, is touted as a new ''mainstreaming'' of DL and is sparking interest across the U.S. Using a critical language policy lens and a mixed method approach, we asked which student groups were positioned discursively and materially to benefit the most from this policy across three types of privilege: white racial privilege, wealth, and English privilege. A critical discourse analysis conducted of five main Utah DL policy texts pointed toward already privileged student groups being discursively targeted for DL participation. Analysis of the demographics of schools housing DL programs between 2005 and 2014 showed a statistically significant drop in access for those without the three forms of privilege under study. We argue these findings are consistent with a larger trend toward the metaphorical gentrification of DL by students of more privilege than those it historically served. We discuss our concerns that as the Utah model spreads nationwide, the gentrification process threatens to position DL as the next wave in a broad pattern of inequitably distributed enrichment education within U.S. schools. We recommend steps toward avoiding this inequitable outcome.
International Multilingual Research Journal, 2016
Utah's public schools are home to an increasing number of K/1-6 dual language (DL) programs estab... more Utah's public schools are home to an increasing number of K/1-6 dual language (DL) programs established through a state-centralized model that has sparked interest domestically and internationally. We theorize three potential constituencies of DL-maintenance, heritage, and world language-then use critical discourse analysis to examine how equitably multiple official state promotional materials discursively portray these constituencies and their interests as well as what other discourses most strongly emerge. We found Utah's state DL discourses were targeted primarily toward a White, world language constituency, and we found that the explicit privileging of economic considerations discursively erased equity and local language concerns associated with maintenance and non-White heritage constituencies. We argue that this discursive misdirection represents a narrow application of the language-as-resource policy orientation. We conclude with implications for favoring a version of globalized language education that promotes local diversity and equitable access to opportunities.
Bilingual Research Journal, 2015
Drawing on sociocultural perspectives, this article illustrates the potential for extending figur... more Drawing on sociocultural perspectives, this article illustrates the potential for extending figured worlds through cultural artifacts. Using thematic and multimodal analysis, the authors first compare how spaces of authoring were produced in two professional development settings: Proyecto Bilingüe and Critical Education Studies. Following one educator from each of these settings into a classroom and into digital spaces respectively, the authors then compare the multimodal cultural artifacts—journey boxes and digital iJourneys—produced by their bi/multilingual students. The findings show the importance of producing spaces of authoring for identity negotiations and the role multimodal cultural artifacts play in embracing memories and lived experiences across figured worlds for both students and educators. Implications for teacher educators and bilingual teachers are discussed.
Bilingual Research Journal, 2014
Grounded in new language policy studies (McCarty, Collins, & Hopson, 2011), this qualitative stud... more Grounded in new language policy studies (McCarty, Collins, & Hopson, 2011), this qualitative study examines two bilingual Latina preschool teachers' language views, experiences, skills, and goals in a Texas/Mexico border community to determine how these factors mediate their choice to use Spanish/English in their instructional practices with the emergent bilingual children in their classrooms. Despite a stated institutional language policy that valued the equal use of English and Spanish, case study teachers' individual values of and practices with each language were shaped by their educational experiences acquiring English. Particularly, their language skills in each language were found to be influential factors in teachers' negotiations of how much and in what ways Spanish was used for instruction. Implications for teacher training and professional development are discussed.
Educational Policy, 2016
We argue the emergence of a shift in U.S. language education policy discourses from an equity/her... more We argue the emergence of a shift in U.S. language education policy discourses from an equity/heritage (EH) framework focused on equity for English learners and non-English heritage languages, toward a global human capital (GHC) framework linked to neoliberal considerations of the language skills of individuals and nations. This discursive shift represents a change in the audience to which language education programs are primarily marketed. Drawing on a critical approach to content analysis to test for evidence of this discursive shift in Utah, we analyzed 164 articles from 5 Utah newspapers from 2005 to 2011 that assigned value statements to dual language and bilingual education. EH values declined or changed little over time whereas GHC values increased. Policy implications are discussed.
Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 2011
The purpose of this study was to determine the role of renovated (Learning Landscapes, LL) vs. no... more The purpose of this study was to determine the role of renovated (Learning Landscapes, LL) vs. non-renovated playgrounds on levels of recess PA in elementary school children. The data collected serve as baseline for the Intervention of PhysicaL Activity in Youth (IPLAY) Study. METHODS: We measured height, weight and 5-6 days of free-living PA via wrist-mounted Actical accelerometers in 271 elementary school children. These students were enrolled in schools serving low socioeconomic status families (77% free and reduced lunch) in metropolitan Denver, CO. Overweight status was defined as > 85 th percentile BMI-forage. We summed total accelerometry counts during recess and divided by the total number of recess minutes to quantify the average activity counts per minute of recess. Univariate ANOVA was conducted to determine between-subject effects of weight status, presence of LL and sex on average recess PA. RESULTS: A significant interaction was observed between LL and sex (p=.003), demonstrating that boys with LL are markedly more active than girls with LL compared to their non-LL counterparts. An additional interaction was observed between LL and weight status (p=.019), indicating that normal weight children with LL had even greater levels of PA than overweight children with LL. CONCLUSIONS: These data demonstrate that in LL schools, normal weight girls and all boys have greater levels of recess PA. However, overweight girls are not affected by LL, signifying the need for additional approaches to encourage them to be more active. RESULTS: Students accumulated 69.96±29.7 min of MVPA on the Take 10!® activity day, 68.63±26.4 min on the days they walked or ran for 20 minutes outdoors which were both significantly greater than the control day (49.5±32.17 min; p<0.05). However, teachers felt the integrated activity took less time because students did not have to line up, put on coats, or resettle after coming indoors. CONCLUSION: Students accumulated 28% more MVPA through Take 10!® activities or walking/running outdoors, which met the policy mandate of an additional 20 minutes of MVPA outside of recess and PE. Teachers were able to integrate the activities into curricular lessons and transition times between
American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2013
Background: There is a paucity of research investigating the effects of innovative physical activ... more Background: There is a paucity of research investigating the effects of innovative physical activity programs on physical health and academic performance in the Latino population. Purpose: To examine the impact of Dance Dance Revolution [DDR]-based exercise on Latino children's physical fıtness and academic achievement. Design: A repeated-measures crossover design was used. In Year 1, Grade-4 students were assigned to the intervention group and offered 30 minutes of exercise (DDR, aerobic dance) three times per week. Grade-3 and Grade-5 students made up the comparison group and were offered no structured exercise at school. In Year 2, the Grade-4 students were again assigned to the intervention, whereas Grade-5 and Grade-6 students were in the comparison group. Setting/participants: Assessments were conducted with 208 Latino school children. Main outcome measures: The baseline measures included time to complete a 1-mile run, BMI, and reading and math scores. Data were collected again 9 months later. Overall, data were collected in 2009-2011 and analyzed in 2012. Results: Data yielded signifıcant differences between the intervention and comparison groups in differences in 1-mile run and math scores in Year 1 and Year 2. The results also revealed net differences in the intervention versus comparison group scores on the 1-mile run for Grade 3 (pϽ0.01). Additionally, children's yearly pre-test and post-test BMI group changes differed (2 (2) ϭ6.6, pϽ0.05) only for the fırst year of intervention. Conclusions: The DDR-based exercise intervention improved children's cardiorespiratory endurance and math scores over time. Professionals should consider integrating exergaming at schools to achieve the goals of promoting a physically active lifestyle and enhancing academic success among Latino children.
ABSTRACT Not available Curriculum and Instruction
Handbook of Latinos and Education, 2021
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Papers by Verónica E Valdez